Tech Note: Will the AOL Model Matter?

When you think back to AOL's peak you can easily recall why they were number one.  At a time when the web was so disorganized and so new AOL was able to gather into one place everything you would need for a good web experience.  It was easy to use, simple, and closed.  It was the closed part the eventually crippled AOL.  As the web began to develop and we became more savvy we no longer needed the all in one feature, didn't want to pay for it, and didn't want to be restrained by it. 

Today Apple is making a big gamble that going forward the AOL model will work.  It has worked for them so far with the explosion of the iPod, followed by the iPhone, followed by the iPad.  A lot of people point to their model and say they are unbeatable because customers have so bought in to the Apple world through the iTunes store.  All the apps they've bought, music they've bought, movies they've bought, etc.  With so much invested those customers are viewed by some as being locked in to Apple products.  This is one reason a lot of people have given for the inability of other pad devices to even make a dent in the Apple wall.  

Now with Amazon announcing their own pad device they will be the first with their own competitive world model to go up against Apple, and priced out at $199 a lot more affordable entry level.  It should also be noted that they will be going with a 7" device instead of a 10" device.  Some people feel this is so they don't have to go head to head with the iPad, I feel this is because Amazon believes it is a better size and do want to go head to head with Apple.

Also Amazon is being up front about the fact that they won't make money off the device, their money will come when you buy into their world.  Buy their movies, their books, their music, etc.  Microsoft will be rolling out Windows 8 devices at some point next year with their world behind it, Google at some point will do the same, the question I want to ask is does the AOL model matter, will it work for these companies long term, or do people still want the freedom of choice they went with to AOL's demise. 

If a company buys WebOS for example and builds it to work with all of these worlds, and the rest of the web will it win out in the end?  That's the big question I think we are all facing.  Do we want to buy into one company's vision of this new experience, or do we want to create our own?  This will all be flushed out over the next 10 years as our link to the internet changes in ways we previously never imagined.